


Turbulence

by Macx



Series: Seismic [7]
Category: Tremors: The Series
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-12
Updated: 2011-05-12
Packaged: 2017-10-19 07:49:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/198577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Macx/pseuds/Macx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The military is back in town. This time it's one man by the name of Colonel Will Reed, father of one Tyler Reed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Turbulence

 

"So, you're the man who said he wouldn't sleep with me, hm?"  
Burt looked at his lover, who was currently very comfortably lying in his arms. Lazy gray eyes looked at him, reflecting satisfaction and the same post-coital bliss Burt himself felt.  
"I what?"  
"You told me, in your own words, you wouldn't sleep with me, Burt."  
Gummer turned to the younger man, meeting the amused expression. "I never said that!"  
"Oh, you did."  
"I did not!"  
Tyler smiled and pushed himself up on his elbows. "You said exactly that in Toluca."  
Burt frowned, then grimaced. "That was... different."  
"Really? How?"  
"I wasn't..." Burt started, then stopped. "We..."  
"Yes?" Tyler asked sweetly.  
"You know! We weren't.."  
"Lovers?"  
"Yes."  
Tyler drew small circles over Burt's chest, one finger playing with a nipple. "Not like you didn't have the opportunity."  
"What?"  
"Well, in the motel room."  
Another frown and one of Burt's hands stopped the teasing pattern, stilling the nimble fingers. He remembered that time. Back then, he hadn't really thought about him and Tyler in that shared motel room, how the younger man had walked around the room with only a thin bath towel wrapped around his hips -- revealing more than hiding anything. He hadn't done anything with Tyler's close presence, the touches, the teasing, the full body contact.  
But he had thought about it later -- and dismissed any notions. 'Look but don't touch' had been the label he had put on this man. Well, that had changed...  
"What would you have done if I had?" Burt asked quietly.  
Tyler regarded him thoughtfully. "Actually, I'm not sure. Keep thinking about it, y'know. I mean, I... needed several beers and some shots to get the courage together..."  
"But if I had made the first step?"  
"I don't know. I'd like to think I'd have followed up on it with some moves of my own."  
Burt regarded him seriously. "It might not have lasted," he said softly.  
"Why?"  
"Heat of the moment... battle situation... not the best start for a relationship."  
"And Juniper's different how?"  
A frown. "Well..."  
Tyler raised his eyebrows; Burt just sighed.  
"It was," he simply said. "The fight was over, we had won..."  
"I was drunk," Tyler chimed in.  
"And that."  
Tyler started his caresses again and claimed another kiss. "You did look sexy in that underwear, with your gun... except for the socks," he murmured.  
Burt gave him an odd look.  
"Well, you did."  
"Sexy?"  
"Uh-huh."  
He pulled the younger man closer, running his hands over the muscular back. A back and backside he had seen in the motel room, too. He had seen a lot, but he hadn't looked and he hadn't touched. Just noted. At the time he had been too worked up over the Cecil Carr show, the whole of Toluca and some people in particular.  
Tyler slid over his thighs, blanketing him. "Very sexy," he whispered, nibbling at Burt's lower lip. "Still do."  
Gummer felt himself react to the body slowly moving against his, the way Tyler played with some soft spots, and he let one hand glide to Tyler's butt.  
His lover didn't need much more encouragement.

* * *  
   
It was just past noon when the dark blue car pulled up in front of Chang's market. It was unmarked, rather new, and had Nevada license plates. All spoke for a tourist coming to Perfection to either take the tour or just buy some souvenirs, but the moment the driver stepped out, it was a whole new ball game. He was maybe in his mid-fifties, with close cropped, gray hair, and sun-tanned skin. The uniform declared him as a member of the United States Air Force. Cool, blue eyes took in the small town.  
Jodi Chang had been watching the arrival of a potential new customer but when she saw the uniform, a very bad feeling spread through her. The last uniform paying them a visit had been nothing but trouble for Burt.  
"Nancy," she said, eyes still on the man who was surveying their town.  
"What is it, Jodi?"  
"Got a visitor. Military."  
Nancy face froze up and she joined the other woman at the window. "It's not McBain."  
"Yeah. Still, I got a bad feeling."  
"You think he's here for Burt?" Nancy asked.  
Jodi grimaced. "I hope not."  
The door opened and the man stepped inside, taking off his cap.  
"Hello and welcome to Perfection," Jodi greeted him, putting a false friendliness into her voice.  
The sharp eyes pinned her for a second, then the man nodded. "Thank you."  
"Have you come for the tour?"  
"Actually, yes."  
Jodi frowned slightly. That was weird. She hadn't expected that. "The next tour's at two. We still got room..."  
"Good." The man checked the time. "Thirty minutes. Could I have a coffee?"  
"Uh, sure."  
Exchanging looks with Nancy, Jodi walked over to the coffee bar and poured a mug. The man took it, paid, and walked outside.  
"Call me paranoid, but I don't think he's looking for the tour," she murmured.  
Nancy nodded, keeping an eye on their visitor through the blinds. "You know," she said thoughtfully, "he reminds me of someone."  
"Someone you've met?"  
"No… I can't put my finger on it… Burt's here," she suddenly announced. "And there comes the tour jeep."  
Jodi hurried around the counter and both women took up position behind the door. This could get interesting.

*

Burt's mood, rather good and up all day thanks to a very nice 'good morning' from Tyler, dropped past zero the moment he discovered the uniform. His whole face went blank and he got out of his truck, sizing up the other man. His gaze was met by hard, blue eyes out of a narrow, sun-tanned face that did nothing to eliminate the bad feeling rising inside him.  
The stranger was Air Force, not Army, so he couldn't be part of McBain's little club. Still, military only came to Perfection when something had hit the fan. Usually his suspicions panned out to be the truth, so Burt cautiously approached the man. From the insignia, he was a Colonel.  
"Can I help you?" he asked.  
"I'm looking for Tyler Reed. I heard he runs the local tour business," was the crisp reply as the cool eyes roamed over the orange tour truck that had just pulled in.  
Tourists were flocking over to the store, talking excitedly. Tyler was among them, smiling, being his charming self, and usually Burt would feel a curl of warmth at the sight of his lover, but now dread replaced it. An Air Force colonel was looking for his lover, who had never, to his knowledge, been in the armed forces or any service related to them. Coronado was just over a month back and the presence of military in Perfection set Burt on edge. More than usual. Especially when a colonel was asking for his lover.  
As the tourists walked past them into the store, the colonel stepped forward and looked Tyler square in the face.  
Several things happened at once.  
Tyler froze in mid-step.  
His face went blank, as did his eyes.  
And then they narrowed.  
"Colonel," he said tonelessly.  
"Tyler."  
"What brings you here?"  
"You."  
Burt could almost feel the animosity radiating off his lover. Tyler briefly looked over to him, then back at the colonel. Finally he turned on his heels and stalked over to his garage again. The colonel followed. Burt watched them, noted the angry body language of his lover, the cold distance of the other man, and he didn't need to hear the words to understand that whatever they were talking about, it was far from friendly.  
What surprised him was that the colonel got into the tour jeep and they left town.  
Curious.

* * *

"What do you want?"  
"As I stated before, I wanted to see where your life took you, Tyler."  
Tyler shot the other man a dark look and stopped the car. "What. Do. You. Want?" he demanded again.  
"You're my son, Tyler. Can't I just pay you a visit?"  
"You didn't care where I lived and what I did for ten years, Colonel!" Tyler snapped.  
The colonel just gazed steadily at him, then left the car to walk a few paces.  
"You know what I think's the reason?" Tyler went on. "You came to check up on where I live, what I do, how I make my money! Don't worry, Colonel, I'm not going to crawl back and beg for money. I'm not going to shame the family name! I'm going to stay here, out of your way!"  
"No, you've decided to spend the rest of your days in a dusty, one-horse town in the middle of nowhere! You cater to the expectations of camera-wielding tourists! You threw away your education to hunt monsters with an ex-colonel-gone-survivalist!"  
Tyler felt his temper flare.  
"This is my life, Colonel! My decision! You never had a say in it! Like all the other times!"  
"Sadly, yes."  
"I like what I do!" Tyler growled.  
Cool eyes looked at him. "It's not exactly a life."  
"You just wanted to make me into a good little soldier!"  
The older man sighed. "No, I didn't want you to throw away all your opportunities, Tyler. You had a great education, you had Lockheed..."  
"I didn't want it, okay?"  
"No, you wanted the adventure, racing cars... the fame."  
"Sorry, Colonel, but I wanted to do something else than design fancy engines! Something I liked! I wanted to race them, test them to their limits! I was good at it! Still am!" Tyler snapped.  
Colonel Will Tyler met the enraged eyes of his son calmly, a sardonic expression on his face. "Yes, you were. So good you got kicked out."  
Tyler's face flushed with anger once more. "I left!"  
"And you came here, to this place." The colonel looked around, eyebrows raised. "To Perfection. Giving up job security, a future, everything... for what? A tour guide business? What's your future? You're not getting any younger, and hunting monsters..."  
"Why don't you stuff it, Colonel? You're no longer a part of my life! You haven't been for ten years and you will never be again!"  
The older man's eyes held an expression that would have scared other men, but Tyler knew his father.  
"Why come back now, hm? Why waste all that time and gas? Just so you can shout at me again?" he demanded.  
"Your mother saw the reports on all your little adventures. She followed your career. Toluca, Juniper… Coronado."  
Tyler's face froze up, as did everything else inside him. "Coronado?"  
"The news reports were vague, as expected, but your name fell once or twice. As did the name Burt Gummer. I heard about that man before. Good man when he was still in the Army. Too bad he resigned."  
Tyler's mouth went dry and the shock permeated everything.  
"Your mother felt I should give you another chance."  
"Give me another chance?" Tyler yelled. His father sounded less inclined than ever to give him any kind of chance. "I don't need a chance from you! I don't need your permission on what to do, who to sleep with, who to love!"  
Hard eyes dug into his soul. "Don't tell me you're making the same mistake again, Tyler."  
"So what if I do? Keep out of my life, Colonel!"  
"I don't care who you sleep with, but any indiscretion"  
"Oh damn, why don't you just fuck off!"  
Before his father had the chance to answer, the seismo went off.  
"Not now!" Tyler hissed and looked around for a rock high enough to be safe on. "C'mon!"  
And he started running for the closest rock. He climbed on, his father behind him, just as the tell-tale wave of an approaching Graboid could be seen passing by the car. El Blanco slowly approached the rock and two tentacles came out, crawling up the rocky surface, searching, small mouths snapping a little.  
"Jesus Christ!" Colonel Reed exclaimed, wide-eyed in shocked surprise as he stumbled back.  
"Looks like he heard us," Tyler remarked, watching the tentacles cautiously.  
Suddenly they disappeared and El Blanco circled, coming to rest in front of them again.  
"It's staying?"  
"Yeah, probably. He's a patient worm. Kinda waits till we either keel over from the heat, lack of food and lack of water, or he hears something else he likes."  
"What?"  
Tyler smiled nastily. "Yeah."  
"Can't you control that thing?" the older man demanded.  
"No one can control El Blanco, Colonel," he answered coldly. "I thought that was a known fact."  
His father's expression grew more icy.  
Tyler pulled out his walkie-talkie. "But maybe I can call some help. Burt, Tyler here. Over."  
There was a moment of silence, then the voice of his lover answered. "Burt here. What's up. Over."  
"Got a little problem. Over."  
"Specify. Over."  
"El Blanco. We're up on a rock, but he's kinda camping out in front of it. You think you can drop by some time and get us off here? Over."  
"Roger that. Give me your position. Over."  
"We're out by Flat Point. Over."  
"Gotcha. Over and out."

* * *

Burt reached the position an hour after Tyler had informed him of their situation. El Blanco was quickly discouraged with a concussion grenade and Tyler and his guest climbed off the rock.  
"Thanks, Burt."  
"You're welcome."  
Tyler didn't look very good. To be completely truthful, he looked like shit. Pale, drawn, eyes hooded, face lined with something Burt couldn't pinpoint. A lot had happened in this short time and nothing of it had been good.  
"Do me a favor? Take the colonel back? I still need to check the jeep, see if El Blanco did some damage to the axle..."  
"Sure," Burt answered slowly.  
The other man shot Tyler a calculating look, then just walked over to the passenger side of the Power Wagon and got in.  
"You okay?" Burt asked quietly.  
"Yeah," was the equally quiet reply. "Just... get him back into town."  
"All right."  
Gummer gave the younger man a friendly pat on the back, then climbed into his car. He watched as Tyler simply went back to his jeep, checking for damage that really couldn't be there, and his curiosity as to who the stranger was rose. He ignited the engine and backed away from the tour jeep, then turned and headed towards Perfection. Glancing over at his silent passenger, Burt decided to try the direct approach.  
"I never caught your name, Colonel...?"  
"Reed. Willard Reed."  
Burt shot him a surprised look and the colonel smiled.  
"Tyler's my son."  
"I see."  
"I've heard a lot about you, General Gummer," the man remarked casually, but to Burt's ears it was everything but.  
"Then maybe you didn't hear that I retired," Burt said dismissively.  
"Oh, yes. Until Coronado. They brought you back, General. You did a fine job with those Shriekers."  
Burt's face froze up, his whole body stiffening and he fixed the other man with a scowl. This topic was of limits, but it didn't stop Colonel Reed.  
"Seems like you and my son work well together."  
Interesting change of topic, Burt thought.  
"What is it you want from me, Colonel Reed?" he asked.  
The other man smiled. "Nothing, General Gummer. I just came here to visit my son."  
Tyler had never mentioned his father was in the Air Force, Burt mused as he steered the truck into town. Actually, he knew very little about his lover's family -- not that he was any better himself. He hardly talked about his own, aside from his ex-wife, who Tyler had already met.  
"You live an interesting life out here," the colonel remarked.  
Burt didn't deign that with an answer.  
"I never thought my son would find such a remote place interesting enough to settle down."  
Burt glanced briefly at his passenger, still silent, wondering what Reed wanted. This wasn't small talk.  
"He always was a kind of a drifter, but it looks like he intends to stay."  
Still no comments. Reed was aiming for something and it made Burt suspicious.  
"I know why you're out here, General, and I respect your decisions. You're renowned for your expertise on Graboids. Everyone who is someone knows you and your work. Perfection is the focal point of the scientific world."  
Now it was getting interesting, Burt mused, not falling for the praise.  
"But my son is running a tour business, has spent all his savings on coming out here... and somehow I doubt it's the life he should live."  
Burt looked at the other man again. "We all had our reasons to come out here."  
"Yes, but what are Tyler's?"  
"Ask him."  
Colonel Reed laughed wryly. Burt's eyebrows rose.  
"It's highly unlikely that I'll get the answers I like. My son and I haven't been able to talk with each for a long time."  
Gummer frowned and his mind was starting to come up with a few interesting answers to his own questions about his lover and his lover's father. Did Willard Reed know about his son's preferences in partners? Did he know about the NASCAR fiasco? Burt highly doubted the latter, but what if Reed senior didn't approve of his son's relationships? It might be an explanation why Tyler had looked so angry.  
They finished the drive back to town in silence and Colonel Reed went into the store to get himself a cold drink and then fill up on gas. Burt just leaned against the truck, thinking.

*

When Tyler came into town fifteen minutes after Burt, he simply parked his jeep out front of his garage and walked inside, not bothering to come over to Jodi's. His father's car was still there, which meant the colonel was somewhere in the store, and he didn't want to see him.  
The last few hours had been enough. Old memories had been woken and he didn't really want to wake some more.  
It came as no surprise that Burt entered his home not much later, a worried expression in his eyes.  
"Tyler?"  
"Yeah?"  
"You okay?"  
"Yeah."  
Burt raised his eyebrows and Tyler evaded the knowing eyes.  
"No," he finally conceded. "Not as long as he's here."  
Gummer didn't ask, he just waited. He was good at that.  
"It's not enough he ruined my life at home, no! He had to come here and continue! The nerve!"  
Tyler started to pace, trying to get rid of the nervous energy..  
"He ran my life since the day I was old enough to walk! He had planned my career the second my mother told him she was pregnant! He wanted a good little soldier, a carbon copy of himself, a career horse. Sorry, not with me! I didn't like the military, I wanted to live my own life!"  
"You did," Burt said quietly.  
Tyler snorted. "Not with his sanctioning. I couldn't do what I wanted to, sleep with whom I wanted to, fall in love with anyone who didn't meet his expectations. And behold the wrath of the mighty Willard Reed! My life, my choice! My fucking sex life!"  
Tyler was breathing hard now, eyes starting to swim.  
"He ruined my childhood, my school life, everything. No friends, always moving, no chance to have someone close, and when he finally settled on an assignment and I went to college, I was so glad to be rid of him. He never loved me! I was the disappointment to the Reed name. And when I finally found someone I loved... God... It was Armageddon."  
"Your first time?" Burt asked quietly.  
"Yeah." For a moment he felt inclined to reveal more, but he bit down on the emotional pain. Not now. Maybe later, but not now. "The Colonel found out. End of the world all right. After that, I left. The house, the family, everything. Finished college with a Masters in Engineering, got into the racing circle, found a life."  
Tyler's voice tapered off and he sank against the desk, trembling slightly.  
"We haven't talk ever since. Now he's back and... everything's starting again. He just can't leave me alone!"  
Burt approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently. "Tyler. He's only here for today. When I dropped him off he just wanted to fill up and leave."  
"He never just leaves!"  
Tyler's temper flared again and he pushed away from the table. He rarely felt such anger bordering to hatred. Something frighteningly like it had happened in Coronado, had taken his breath away with its intensity, but back then he had been angry at the system at such, not a single person. Right now, all the negative emotions for his father were coming back, pouring out of him, flooding Burt.  
"Tyler," Burt said calmly.  
"Who does he think he is anyway?" Tyler demanded. "He never ran my life! Never! He had my little brother to fulfill his dreams of an Air Force career! He told me what he thought of me, of my indiscretions! So why come back now? Because I made the news?"  
"Tyler..." his lover repeated, touching one shoulder squeezing gently.  
"Why, Burt? Why did he have to come here and destroy the little things I found? Why?"  
By now his raging emotions were completely at the surface and his eyes were swimming with tears of anger and frustration. Burt met the gray eyes, clearly unwell with the emotional display, but suddenly he just took his lover into his arms, holding him close. Tyler was surprised for a second, then fell into the embrace, holding on.  
"Don't let him in," Gummer said softly, rubbing his back.  
"Too late. He always got under my skin," Tyler answered, trying to get his emotions under control once more.  
"He's leaving."  
Tyler didn't answer. He simply sought out his lover's lips and felt Burt respond, his hands holding him close.  
"He's leaving," Burt repeated when they separated. "I'm staying."  
"I know." Another kiss. "I love you."

Neither man was aware of the silent witness of their tender display of affection.

*

Colonel Will Reed stood outside the garage in shock.  
Not again.  
His son had done it again!  
And with the unlikeliest person.  
General Burt Gummer.  
A man who was older than his son.. There were at least fifteen years of age difference!  
Now he knew why his son stayed in this godforsaken place in the middle of a Graboid habitat. It wasn't an answer he liked. Not one bit.  
Walking away from the Quonset hut, the colonel tried to erase what he had seen, but it wasn't easy. Seeing the two men kiss wasn't the problem. He had never had a problem with the bisexuality of his son, just with his indiscretions that had cost him too much already, as well as the people around him. This could get ugly; very ugly. Perfection was in the news now and again, like Tyler and Gummer. If the media caught wind of their true relationship... Ugly wasn't the word for it any more. What his son was doing was dangerous. More dangerous than hunting monsters.  
He opened the car with his remote as he walked toward it, then stopped at the door. Turning, Colonel Reed caught sight of his son and the general outside the garage. Even across the distance he could see the hard, hurt expression on his son's face. Gummer stood close by, face closed off.  
Sadness flooded him.  
And disappointment.

Tyler tensed as he met the cold blues of his father. He could read everything negative in there, could hear his father's harsh voice again, and somehow he realized the older Reed knew about him and Burt.  
"He knows," he whispered.  
"What?"  
The colonel got into his car and backed away from the Market, then drove off.  
"He knows, Burt."  
Tyler walked away from the other man, around the garage and disappeared behind the building.

* * *

It was two days after the visit of Colonel Reed that Tyler's phone rang in the middle of the night -- at 6 a.m. Groggy, too tired to think straight, he groped for the receiver.  
"Yeah?" he murmured into the phone.  
"Tyler Reed?"  
"Yeah, speaking. Who's that?"  
"Jack McBain."  
From one second to the next, Tyler was awake. Wide awake. "General McBain?"  
"I hope I didn't wake you."  
"Actually, you did. Why the call?"  
"I thought I'd give you a heads up."  
"Huh?"  
"Yesterday, I received a call," McBain said calmly. "About Colonel Willard Reed."  
"What?" Tyler suddenly felt cold.  
"Yes. Tyler, we red-flagged Burt's file. It means that when someone tries to access his file, he sets off an alarm."  
"He... why... He looked into Burt's file?"  
"He couldn't. The file is closely guarded, like every Special Ops man's. He can't get to the information he wants -- his background and Coronado."  
Coronado. That thrice-cursed assignment. It was still coming back to bite them.  
"I called Colonel Reed and had a nice talk with him."  
"I bet he liked that."  
"Oh yes."  
Tyler rubbed his eyes, then ran a hand through his hair. "Now what?"  
"Nothing. I just wanted to let you know since Colonel Reed is related to you, and I suspect he saw something he shouldn't have." There was light amusement in the older man's voice.  
McBain knew about their relationship and he had been together with Burt once. A long time ago, a short but intense affair. He knew.  
As did his father.  
The difference was that McBain accepted it, while his father... well, the colonel was the colonel.  
"Thanks, General. I appreciate it."  
"You're welcome. Give Burt my best."  
And with that the line went dead.  
Tyler sat on his bed for a long time, feeling nothing at all.  
Finally he got up, dressed, walked to his car and drove off.

* * *

His parents lived in a large, rather rustic house of suburban Las Vegas. It was a quiet street and Tyler's orange jeep looked completely out of place as he stopped it at the curb. Two cars were parked inside the driveway to the double garage and the front garden was a lush green with a picturesque mail box and bird house by a tree. Flowers were blooming everywhere.  
Very homey.  
Very expensive.  
All the plants needed water and it was costly.  
Walking up to the door, he rung the bell. He knew his father wasn't at Nellis Air Force Base since it was Saturday.  
The door opened.  
"Tyler?"  
Amanda Reed gave her son an immediate once-over, taking in the jeans, black shirt, jean jacket, and boots.  
"Mom."  
"That's a surprise."  
"Probably. Is the Colonel home?"  
His mother's face tightened slightly. "He is. Tyler..."  
"I need to talk to him, Mom."  
"Tyler. Come in." Colonel Reed joined his wife at the door, looking at his son with the same controlled expression he had had in Perfection. "It must be painful to break your own promise, son. When you left my house ten years ago, you swore never to come back."  
Tyler glared. "And I'm not going to stay. I just want to know what the hell you were thinking snooping around Burt's past!"  
"He's a highly decorated man. I was curious."  
"You're never just curious!"  
"I wanted to know more about the man you have obviously developed a relationship with."  
Tyler's blood pressure rose exponentially, but he put a lid on it. For now. "What for?"  
"I'm just worried about you because..."  
And the lid blew. "Worry? You? About me? Don't make me laugh! You never worried about me! You just worried about something getting out! Someone knowing that your son likes men, too! You wanted the family picture, the son with the 2.3 children, the house with the picket fence and a dog!" he yelled. "I know it all, inside out! Whatever you think of me, I don't care! But you had no right, absolutely no right, to try and break into Burt's file! It's classified! You were spying!"  
A muscle in his father's cheek jumped. "Tyler... I wanted to know what kind of a man he is."  
"That's none of you fucking concern! It's my decision! It always was!" he exploded. "It was my decision to go to Perfection and no one there gives a damn. It's called privacy, Colonel! As for anyone else outside the Valley... I'm not that interesting that someone would care who I sleep with!"  
"The whole world keeps an eye on Perfection Valley. You are like a bug under the microscope, son. You should be aware of that already."  
"I am. Still, who cares what I do? We're all freaks out there!" Tyler snapped.  
"Maybe you should care."  
"To hell with you," he whispered harshly. "You'll never understand me." He turned on his heels, storming past his mother, who had witnessed the whole exchange silently.  
He pulled the door forcefully shut behind him, then stalked over to his car.  
"Tyler?"  
The soft, female voice stopped him and he looked at his mother, who regarded him steadily from serious gray eyes.  
"Tyler..."  
"No!" He raised a hand. "Don't, Mom. Nothing you can say will change anything. It's just like I remember it. And if he hadn't dug around where he shouldn't, I wouldn't even have come back!"  
"But you did, Tyler."  
"Because he decided to ruin my life yet again! I'm already at the bottom rung for him! Why continue kicking? Tell me, Mom: why him? Why did you have to marry him of all people?"  
Amanda Reed smiled, then reached out to cup his cheek. "One day you'll understand, Tyler. You found someone and if you're serious about him, you'll know the answer."  
He didn't have a reply to that.  
"Drive safely," Amanda said softly, then walked back to the house.  
Tyler left Las Vegas, eyes fixed on the road. He didn't stop until he reached Bixby where he filled up on gas, then continued home.  
It was in the middle of the night when he finally arrived at the garage. Like on automatic he simply stripped and fell into bed.  
He didn't fall asleep for a long time -- an hour before the alarm rang.

* * *

Tyler didn't sleep for more than a few hours for the next three days. He barely spoke to anyone and spent the most time somewhere in the Valley. Away from people, away from Burt. He couldn't deal with anyone right now, especially his lover. Thankfully the tour business was slow and the few customers he had didn't complain. He ran the usual show, gave them the wide smiles and the horror stories, coupled with some Graboid biology lessons.  
Burt gave him space.  
A lot of it.  
For three days.  
And then he acted.  
Tyler had driven out into the desert, chosen a nice enough rock and had simply sat there for hours, just staring out into the desert. Once El Blanco came by, but he didn't so much as blink when the worm passed. His thoughts were elsewhere.  
The sound of the Power Wagon pulling up registered in his brain, but until the moment Burt stepped up beside him, he didn't react.  
"Hey," he said softly.  
"Tyler. What happened?”  
“Nothing.”  
Burt made a non-committal noise.  
Tyler stared out over the desert.  
"My father happened."  
"I noticed," Burt remarked dryly.  
"He snooped around. In your file."  
Gummer frowned. "It's classified."  
"Yeah, well, didn't stop him. He didn't get far, though," Tyler muttered.  
"How do you know?" Burt asked quietly.  
"McBain called. Your file's booby-trapped and the Colonel walked right in when he asked about Coronado."  
Burt's eyebrows rose slightly. Tyler had actually expected more of an outburst.  
“Coronado? Is that what's bothering you again?"  
Tyler closed his eyes. “It brought back some old memories”  
More silence.  
“What memories?” Gummer finally prodded.  
"Bad ones." Tyler shook his head, visibly tensing up. “It was you, okay? The way you treated me, like one of your men,” he went on, anger worming into his voice. It was an anger that came from that deep, dark place inside him; a place he had kept under tight lock for such a long time... and Coronado had broken the seal.  
If Burt was surprised that they were discussing his behavior again, he didn't show it.  
“I was on an assignment, Tyler.”  
“Damn, we were on assignments before, but that had been us, together! This was only you. And you treated me like one of your men, not like your partner, not like a friend and sure as hell not like your lover! Hell, I didn’t expect you to kiss me or something, but I didn’t expect to be treated like a goddamn rookie recruit!”  
Now it was real anger. Very deeply rooted anger that had matured with time, morphed into hatred and rage. Tyler jumped up, pacing on the uneven surface.  
Burt just stared at him, shocked. "Tyler..."  
He whirled around, pinning his lover with desperate gray eyes. “Don’t you dare apologize, Burt Gummer!“  
Tyler couldn't deal with apologies. He had heard them so often, mostly from his mother -- concerning his father. He didn't want apologies, couldn't deal with them.  
"Then what do you want me to do?"  
Anguish rose. "I don't know! I thought I had dealt with it all... and then he comes back. For real this time; not just a bad memory. I could deal with the memory when it was just Coronado, but afterwards..."  
"The adrenaline disappeared and reality settled in," Burt said quietly.  
A sharp nod.  
Gummer approached him slowly and carefully reached out. When Tyler didn't shy away, he pulled him close.  
After a while, a soft, “I know you’re not him," could be heard and Tyler dug his fingers into the beige vest. "Hell, even out here that goddamn bastard is ruining my life once again!”  
“Only if you let him.”  
"He can do it. Has done it before," Tyler whispered. "He's good at that. Drove everything I loved away..."  
"I'm not going."  
They stood in silence for a while, Tyler wrapped in Burt's arms, savoring the feeling.  
“Burt?” he mumbled.  
“Hm?”  
“You’re a big old softy, you know that?”  
“I resent the old part.”  
"So you're just a softy, hm?"  
"As long as the others don't hear that from you..."  
He chuckled. “Burt, news flash – they already know.”  
“There goes my reputation.”  
Tyler pushed back and smiled at his lover, though it wasn't his usual care-free one. “Can we go home now?”  
Burt regarded him steadily. “Yours or mine?”  
“Yours. I think I need to tell you something.”  
Burt's expression said 'finally', but he kept quiet. He just kissed him, then released the other man.  
"See you there."  
Tyler nodded. He had made the decision.

* * *

Tyler walked into the bunker and immediately got himself a beer. Burt took the offered second bottle, then nodded at the couch. Tyler sank down, staring at the floor, turning the bottle in his hands. Moisture ran down the brown glass, wetting his hands.  
Burt sat down opposite his lover, watching him. Silence reigned for a long time.  
Finally Tyler looked at Burt, and there was a slight, moist glint in his gray eyes, which made Burt raise his eyebrows. Tyler was a more emotional man than he himself, but he had never seen him cry. Well, he didn't right now, but he looked as if he was close.  
"Tyler?"  
"I told you about my first love; and I told you that my father... well, didn't approve?"  
"Yes?"  
"Not only didn't he approve, he ruined everything. I was eighteen, Michael was thirty-eight, which I didn't know at first, and back then couldn't care less. I was on college, can you imagine that? Me, the hot-shot race car driver. College. I was in San Francisco."  
There was a far away expression on Tyler's face from which Burt could tell his lover was reliving some past events. And not all of them seemed to be pleasant ones. So he just waited for Tyler to continue.  
"We met in a bar, of all places. I visited it because it was away from campus, and he because it was 'far away from his work', as he told me. We somehow started to talk, about the world in general and in particular, and it felt... for the first time in my life I felt understood. We met for months before he kissed me for the first time, and it was like wham, bull's eye; it felt that right for me. Michael was gentle, went slow, but when we finally... you know..."  
A small smile played around his lover's lips, but Burt could see it was a sad one. Here comes the ugly part.  
Tyler inhaled and put down the bottle, then rose abruptly. He paced a little bit.  
"He was not only my first man, but my first at all. I was young and maybe kinda naïve, but ... when I told him I loved him, he..."  
Tyler's hands went to his chest, fingering something under his shirt. Burt knew immediately what it was, what he had noticed on Tyler but never asked about, never looked at closer. Now he understood why and there was a little pang rushing through him.  
Dog tags.  
Tyler wore them under his shirts every single day and he had first seen them in Toluca. Back then he had been too fired up about the Tolucans in general to ask about them. A part of him had noticed them; that was all. Later, when they had gotten together, Tyler had never worn them to bed.  
Ever.  
And Burt had never asked why, though he had noticed that, too.  
Jealousy rose inside him; jealously of a man Tyler had been with a decade ago -- and who still seemed to be part of his lover's life.  
"To make a long story short, the Colonel caught us one day. Really caught us, if you get me. Turned out Michael Callahan was Air Force Captain Michael Callahan. Moreover, he was in the Colonel's unit, well, Major back then. No wonder he never told me about his 'work', and because I never spoke about my family, we never connected the dots. After the Colonel caught us, I couldn't reach him for three weeks, no calls, no letters, no nothing. I can only imagine what hell time my father gave him. And then he ... he just stood at my door one day, to say good-bye, gave me these," Tyler pulled out the dog tags. "Told me he had applied for a transfer ... hell, he had already packed up. Later I found out that he had left the armed forces. And guess what the Colonel had to say about that? Came with his indiscretion shit all over again, and how he had taught me better, how - I quote - 'one foolish move could ruin a promising career and destroy a life'. And he sure as hell didn't mean mine. Oh, and how no son of his would be so dumb. I saw him again just once at my graduation when I told him about my decision to make it into NASCAR. You can imagine his joy."  
Tyler fingered the dog tags and smiled a humorless smile.  
"I kept them. In a way, they resemble my freedom. A freedom I never regretted."  
Burt sat dumbstruck, stunned about the amount of stupidity a single man could display, about the extent of damage this stupidity had done to his lover. It was a sheer miracle Tyler Reed had turned out to be the man he was, with no further trauma, considering the way his father seemed to have dictated his life, even destroyed vital parts of it with his own selfishness, driven his son away ...  
And then it hit him.  
Coronado.  
The 'something' that had happened in Coronado, that 'something' that had made Tyler silent and distant. It hadn't been a 'something' rather than a 'someone'.  
Him.  
Burt groaned inwardly as he realized what exactly he had done when he had allowed Colonel Gummer to come to the surface once again. He had treated his lover like one of his own men - and just the same way his father had. The Colonel; hell, even the ranks had matched.  
Oh my god, what have I done?  
And Tyler had stayed, even after that... Had put his trust in him by putting his life, his heart and soul into his hands, even after he...  
He finally got up and walked up to his lover. "Tyler..."  
There must have been something in his voice, in his tone that made Tyler look at him instantaneously, worry replacing the sadness.  
"Burt?"  
Burt wanted to open his mouth, speak, tell Tyler it was okay, it would be all right, but somehow the words seemed to be stuck in his throat. So he just cupped the younger man's face between his hands, gently running his thumbs over the temples, and slowly pressing their lips together. Running his hands over the still rigid back of the man in his arms, just holding him, he felt Tyler slowly relax and respond.  
"Love you," was all he could get out. "I'm sorry."  
Tyler stiffened, but before he could react, Burt just tightened his hold.  
"That, too. But I meant Coronado. I didn't know, didn't realize... I'm sorry."  
The younger man finally relaxed, burying his head against Gummer's shoulder. "I'm sorry, too."  
Burt continued to caress his lover's back. "I love you," he repeated.  
And he just held him.

* * *

A week passed by with nothing out of the ordinary, except two days where busloads of tourists swarmed around the town. Tyler was busy until the middle of the night and crawled out early in the morning to receive the next load of happy, camera-wielding visitors. It brought in money and everyone was happy, especially Jodi who was quickly restocking her shelves. Nancy sold her new product lines like a charm.  
Burt kept out of the way of tourists and cameras, aware of how well he was known and how much a visitor would stick to him like glue if anyone discovered who he was. Tyler teased him about his so-called antisocial behavior, but he knew where his lover was coming from.  
It was in the second week that one of the visitors didn't go on a tour, choosing to stay behind at the Market, drinking a Grabuccino and looking around the shelves.  
"This looks nice," the slender woman remarked, looking at the Desert Icicles Nancy was currently hanging up.  
"Thank you." Nancy smiled at the stranger. "It's a product line I've had for a while now. I'm working on a variation of it."  
"It would fit perfectly in my garden." She took one of the blue bells and walked over to Jodi's counter. "Could you put that back for me? I'm still looking around."  
"Sure." Jodi gave her a smile.  
"Aren't you here for the tour?" Nancy asked curiously.  
"No. I’m just waiting for my son; he’s on the tour.”  
"It's a wonderful tour," Nancy told her listener. "Tyler's a very good tour guide."  
"Oh, I heard about it. It must be exciting to see the Graboid so closely."  
"Depends on your definition of excitement," Jodi chimed in.  
"He's not a tame animal, is he?"  
"Oh no. You can't tame Graboids."  
The woman frowned slightly. "So it's dangerous?"  
"Only if you get off the truck and walk into the desert," Nancy explained. "Don't worry, your son is quite safe. Tyler has an extra eye on every one." She glanced over at Burt, who quietly sat at the table closest to the wall, out of the way and very much 'camouflaged'.  
"Good." Their visitor was walking along the isles, choosing two T-shirts and depositing them with the Desert Icicles. "Is that real?" she asked, pointing at the tentacle on the shelf.  
"Oh, it is. It's not from El Blanco, though. It's from one of the first Graboids in this Valley," Jodi explained. "El Blanco is protected."  
"Impressive."  
She paid cash for the items, then got herself another cup of Grabuccino and picked a table.  
Burt's table.  
“You must be Mr. Gummer.”

Burt looked up from his newspaper as he was addressed by the tourist, putting on a neutral face. He didn't answer, hoping the woman would go away. Normally every tourist was on the tour and he had a moment to read the paper, talk to the women, but today one had remained behind.  
Now she stood in front of him, a friendly smile on her face. She wasn't much taller than Jodi, maybe in her early fifties with graying hair, gray eyes and the sun-tanned features of an outdoors person. She as dressed sensibly for the desert climate, and while she looked like a tourist, a small, paranoid and suspicious part inside Burt refused to classify her as one.  
“I saw you on TV.”  
Great.  
“Ma’am, I don’t give autographs. “  
“I’m not asking for one.”  
That’s a first.  
“You’re a fascinating man,” the woman said conversationally.  
If that wasn’t a come-on…  
Those gray eyes held an oddly familiar intense expression while the face remained open and friendly.  
Burt folded the paper and rose. So much for waiting for Tyler and driving out on patrol together. It was the younger man's last tour for today and they had planned some quality time together outdoors, followed by an evening at the bunker.  
“It’s been nice talking to you.”  
He pushed past her.  
“General Gummer?”  
Burt stopped dead in his tracks. He turned slowly, eyes narrowed, mouth a thin-lipped line.  
“Sorry ma’am, but you must be mistaking me for someone else.”  
She smiled at him. ”I sure hope not. I’m starting to like you. “  
“Who are you?” he asked sharply, voice deceptively soft.  
“My name is Amanda Reed. I think you know my son – intimately.”  
Burt's insides froze, then twisted into a knot. Tyler's mother. The same expressive gray eyes, the same smile, the same open manner. He had inherited a lot from her and almost nothing from his father, he thought, except for the size.  
And she knew.  
Well, of course she did. About Tyler and him. No surprise there. Tyler had never made a secret out of his interests and Burt suspected that Mrs. Reed knew a whole lot more than even her son suspected. Mothers usually did, much to the chagrin of their sons and daughters.  
But she also knew about him, the rank. A rank he had yet to acknowledge. Coronado had earned him the 'general' but for Burt this last assignment had been nothing but a well of pain and memories he had thought he had dealt with before. The rank wasn't exactly classified, like his file, and to anyone asking, Colonel Burt Gummer had retired a long time ago. The Special Ops operative didn't exist. But why would anyone try to find out his rank?  
“Tyler and I work together occasionally," Burt answered evasively, getting up to leave.  
"I believe you do."  
"What do you want, Mrs. Reed?”  
“Can't a mother just visit her son?”  
Burt's brows drew together into a frown that darkened his whole features. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, towering over the much smaller woman.  
”The last time a family member visited Tyler, he wasn’t very excited about it. Neither was I.”  
She met the scowl, studying Burt without the slightest hint of intimidation. Yes, she came from a military family all right, he thought. Officers' wives rarely backed down from a confrontation.  
“Please, Mr. Gummer – or may I say Burt? – take a seat. Let’s have a talk.” She gestured at the table he had just vacated.  
“And if I say no?” Burt challenged.  
“I’m a Reed. You won’t get rid off me that easily.”  
Yes, she was a Reed. Tyler had so much of his mother that Burt was hard-pressed not to give in and talk to the woman. He was curious about her since he had only met the father, and that had left a lasting negative impression.  
"Burt?" Jodi's voice interrupted his musings and he looked past Mrs. Reed, discovering the young woman. "Is everything okay?" he asked.  
He nodded briskly. "Jodi, may I introduce? Amanda Reed. Tyler's mother."  
At the name, Jodi stiffened and her whole body language changed. "I see."  
Mrs. Reed just met the suddenly rather hostile eyes calmly. She glanced at Nancy, who had come forward from the shelves, looking at her with undisguised wariness.  
"It seems my son has found friends here. I've to say I'm glad he did.  
“Damn right he has! And you have no right to intervene!” Jodi stated. "Why can't you all just leave him alone?"  
"Who says I want to intervene?”  
Burt frowned again, still studying his lover's mother. She seemed like a nice enough woman, but appearances could be deceiving.  
The front door opened and a crowd of tourists entered. Jodi glanced at Burt, who just nodded calmly at her. Go and look after the customers. I'll handle this. Nancy did the same, leaving the two alone with each other once more. Burt discovered Tyler walking in and it took barely two seconds for him to discover his lover --  and his mother.  
"Mom?" he exclaimed, long strides taking him over to where she stood, smiling at him.  
"Hello, Tyler."  
"What are you doing here?"  
"Visiting you."  
"Checking on me," Burt added.  
Tyler's whole demeanor changed. "Did the colonel send you? If he has, forget it. I don't want to hear anything and please don't give me any crap about him being sorry. He isn't; never was, never will be."  
Mrs. Reed shook her head. "Your father doesn't even know I'm here, Tyler. I just wanted to see where you live."  
"Well, you have. Want to see the worm, too?"  
Burt noted the flat tone of voice, the dismissiveness. While Tyler's reaction to his mother's presence wasn't as pronounced as to his father's, he also wasn't overjoyed.  
"Tyler," she said patiently and her son clenched his hands into fists.  
Finally he forcefully relaxed, running a hand through his hair before pushing the baseball cap firmly onto his head again.  
"Let's walk, Mom," he said softly, taking her by one arm and steering her toward the exit.  
She stopped and nodded at Burt, who hadn't moved an inch.  
“Mr. Gummer?" she asked, making an inviting gesture.  
Burt frowned.  
"Aren't you coming with us?" she clarified.  
Tyler was about to say something, but his mother got there first.  
"Tyler, I came here to get to know the man you, according to your father, seem to be quite serious about.”  
Burt pulled his cap deep into his face. Wonderful! He had had a mother-in-law once. Right now he would have preferred the colonel. At least he knew how to deal with the military. He noticed how his lover's whole body tensed at the name of his father.  
"Great," Tyler muttered under his breath. "What did he tell you?"  
"Walk?" his mother simply answered the question with another question.  
Tyler looked at Burt, their eyes meeting, and the question was clearly readable in his lover's expressive eyes.  
Burt? It's your choice.  
I don't know...  
Your choice.  
Burt nodded curtly, then walked past them and out of the Market, which was by now a tourist haven. Jodi was happily manning the cashier, but she glanced at them as they left. So did Nancy. He shot them a calming look, then closed the door after himself. He put on his sunglasses, then followed his lover and Mrs. Reed.  
She looked over the dusty street, then smiled at her son. "How about a little tour of the town?"  
Tyler just shrugged, glancing at Burt, who couldn't help him either. They walked away from the store, Burt trailing behind them, as Mrs. Reed took in Perfection.  
"I like it. Very quiet," she said when they reached the water tower. She gazed at the Graboid Adventure Tours sign over the entrance to the garage. "Your place?"  
"Yeah."  
"Functional."  
"Mom..."  
Gray eyes locked on gray eyes. "Tyler, I'm not here to criticize your life-style or try to get you home. I've always felt that you would find something that's really for you." She looked at Burt.  
"You did? Well, you might have told me before!" Tyler snapped.  
"Maybe I never chose the right words."  
"So a few days after the Colonel waltzes back into my life, spouting some crap about worrying about me, then slapping my 'indiscretions' into my face yet again, you show up. To talk to Burt?"  
"Your father really does worry about you..."  
"Thanks, but I can do that on my own. I don't need him and never have!"  
"Tyler, please."  
"You don't understand, Mom! You never have! Listen, I... I can't deal with that right now, okay? I can't!"  
And with that he turned, got into the jeep, leaving Burt alone with Mrs. Reed, who watched her son's retreat with a knowing but sad expression. She sighed and looked at Burt, smiling humorlessly.  
"My son and my husbands have differences."  
"I figured," he remarked dryly.  
"Will loves Tyler. He loves both his sons, Mr. Gummer, even if he doesn't show it."  
Burt's eyebrows rose. "And you're here why?" he asked, straight-forward.  
"To see my son again," she answered truthfully. "I wanted to know how he lives, especially after Will came home and told me about his visit here. And I wanted to get to know the man my son loves. You, Mr. Gummer. Will mentioned who you were, your career, that you're a distinguished officer. I wanted to see you for myself, see what you can give my son... My question now is, is my son happy with you? Are you the right one?"  
Burt regarded her steadily from behind the shades, a scowl on his features as the smaller woman fixed him with a demanding look. He had no idea what this woman wanted from him. He couldn't give her an answer to any of her questions. Burt believed that Tyler was happy with him, that their lives together were what the younger man wanted -- or Tyler would have told him so. He was an open man and displeasure was easily recognizable. They had both sacrificed small things to make this relationship work -- and it did.  
Burt took off his glasses, never breaking the gaze. "I don't know if I'm the right one or not, Mrs. Reed." He put the glasses into a vest pocket. "That's for Tyler to decide." He gave her a little nod. "Ma'am." Then turned to leave.  
She didn't follow him to the truck, but when he drove off, Amanda Reed still stood outside the garage, watching him. Burt's expression was closed off and for a while he didn't know where he was going; he just drove. Somewhere out in the desert Tyler was most likely staring holes into the ground. He wondered if he should seek him out.  
And he decided against it. Right now, Tyler wanted and needed to be alone. He would come to Burt should he need his support.

Amanda Reed was gone by the time he returned.

* * *

It was past sundown when Tyler walked into the bunker. Burt had detected the arrival of the tour jeep and it had been a matter of minutes until the car had reached the compound and Tyler had gone past the secured door. He looked lost in thought and Burt just watched him as he sank onto the couch, eyes on the TV that was running a BBC commentary. Burt had switched on the TV for some background noise while preparing dinner.  
Walking over to his lover, he held out a plate with food. "Eat," he ordered when Tyler took it.  
"Burt, I... ah... I'm not hungry."  
"Eat," Gummer repeated and Tyler backed down, shoving the meat around on his plate. "Eat, not play with it, Tyler," Burt clarified, putting some exasperation into his voice. "Starving yourself doesn't solve any problems."  
Gray eyes rose from the food, filled with emotions. Burt had seen his share of family trouble in his military time. Sons and daughters didn't always want to fulfill their parents' dreams, and parents not always accepted that.  
"Tyler, you can't change them. I think you accepted that a while ago."  
"Yeah, but I thought they'd stay out of my life," he whispered.  
"Well, they didn't."  
"For over ten years I saw neither hide nor hair of the Colonel! Why now?"  
"Can't change that either. Not eating doesn't help. Doesn't change the past, nor their opinion of you." Burt held the expressive eyes. "Tyler, from my point of view, you did just fine with your life."  
"Really?"  
"Yes."  
"Well, try telling that to my father."  
"I'm not," Burt stated firmly. "It's your life; you live it as you see fit. It's every man's freedom of choice."  
Tyler gazed at the cooling food, pushing a piece of cactus through the dark sauce.  
"Tyler, eat," Gummer insisted. "Or I'll make you."  
Indignant gray eyes flared with life. "You wouldn't!"  
"Watch me..."

They slept together that night, wrapped around each other, Tyler seeking comfort from his lover. There was no sex, just a few caresses and kisses, then the younger man dozed off until he was finally sleeping deeply. Burt remained alert a while longer, thinking about the past events.  
There was nothing anyone could do, least of all him. All he could do was to be there for Tyler -- and he would.


End file.
